1. Field of the Invention
The present patent application for industrial invention relates to a removable motor power device for wheelchairs of disabled users.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
As it is known, two main types of wheelchairs for disabled users are known: wheelchairs without motor power, which are moved by the force exerted by the arms of the disabled user or are pushed by another person, and wheelchairs equipped with an electrical motor, which are moved and controlled by the disabled user with a suitable joystick.
Evidently, motor powered wheelchairs guarantee higher autonomy and better operation for the user compared to traditional non-powered wheelchairs. Nevertheless, motor powered wheelchairs are impaired by a considerable drawback. The fact that they are provided with an electrical motor and with the components used to transfer the power developed by the motor to the wheels of the wheelchair makes the wheelchair structure considerably heavy and completely “rigid” in such manner that the wheelchair cannot be folded or at least compacted, as in the case of the lighter wheelchairs without a motor. As a matter of fact, motor powered wheelchairs cannot be folded or stored in the trunk of a car, as it normally occurs with non-powered wheelchairs.
Such a problematic issue has already been addressed, with results that cannot be considered fully satisfactory, by providing a non-powered wheelchair for disabled users with a motor unit adapted to be mounted and dismounted easily from the front of the wheelchair according to the specific requirements. Such a powered unit, which can be controlled manually by the disabled user while sitting on the wheelchair, is provided with at least one steering wheel associated with an electrical motor and provided on the back with a substantially horizontal frame that allows for fixing to the frame of the wheelchair.
The drawback of such a technology is related to the large volume of the motor unit. In fact, the motor unit has a rather large three-dimensional structure, both vertically and horizontally, which is unpractical to handle and store, including separately from the wheelchair. In such a technological situation, the vertical volume is generated by the structure that supports the steering wheel and the means used to control the steering of the wheel, whereas the horizontal volume is generated by the frame that protrudes on the back from the structure that supports the wheel for connection with the frame of the non-powered wheelchair.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,422 discloses a wheelchair provided with power drive. However the motor unit is directly connected to the transverse rods of a framework of the wheelchair. Thus U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,422 does not provide for an intermediate frame disposed between the motor unit and the wheelchair in order to change the position of the wheelchair according to the route.
W02009/002543 discloses a wheelchair with an auxiliary nonpowered device with hand pedals. The auxiliary device is connected to the bearing frame of the wheelchair by means of an articulated system comprising two arms and two connections provided with omnidirectional spherical joints. The system is self-adjusting and does not allow for changing the inclination of the frame according to the route.
EP1927331 discloses a wheelchair with motor unit comprising an H-shaped intermediate frame that does not allow for adjusting the inclination with respect to the motor unit and to the bearing frame of the wheelchair.
The purpose of the present invention is to devise a motor power device used to move wheelchairs for disabled users, which can be removed in order to reduce volumes.
Another purpose of the present invention is to simplify the coupling and uncoupling of the motor power device with the wheelchair.
Another purpose of the present invention is to devise a motor power device adapted to adjust the general position of the wheelchair from time to time according to the route and to the higher or lower regularity of the road surface.